Poachers plans cause a stir

The proposed new opening hours would see the premises being allowed to serve alcohol until later at night, and this has caused fears among some residents of the Indres House apartment block opposite the building.
In a letter to the council, Roger Gibbon, who lives in the block, said: "The Poachers has a poor reputation regarding some of its patronage who subscribe to excessive noise, unsociable and loutish behaviour, which still unfortunately plagues this public house.
"It has to be noticed that the trend of the traditional public house in our midst is being changed into a form of night club, which is really quite unacceptable and we feel that the application should be rejected."
Mike Wilder, landlord of the pub, said: "I would like to reassure people that this will not cause an increase in noise or bad behaviour in the village. I work very closely with the police to ensure that they are happy with things here, and over the last year I have had no complaints.
"I realise that the Poachers had a reputation in the past but I think it is unfair to judge a pub on what it was like 10 or 20 years ago. I have asked for this increase in opening times to bring the pub in line with the Greyhound, which is allowed to open longer. If I am granted what I have asked for, it will reduce footfall through the village at night, because at the moment a lot of my customers leave my pub and walk to the Greyhound when we close.
"I live above the Poachers with my partner and nine-year-old son, so I am not going to run a pub which is noisy and filled with bad behaviour."
The plans were discussed at a CDC licensing sub-committee meeting last night.